Dollar General (NYSE:DG) Hits New 1-Year Low on Disappointing Earnings

Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as low as $91.98 and last traded at $95.36, with a volume of 1650407 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $123.84.

The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.79 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.37 billion. Dollar General had a return on equity of 22.80% and a net margin of 3.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 EPS.

Dollar General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Dollar General’s dividend payout ratio is 34.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Dollar General from $151.00 to $148.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Argus cut their target price on Dollar General from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Dollar General in a report on Monday. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Dollar General in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Dollar General from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.41.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,071,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,408,514,000 after purchasing an additional 3,360,413 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Dollar General by 11.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,790,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,244,491,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113,485 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Dollar General by 11.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,217,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,155,141,000 after acquiring an additional 2,031,593 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Dollar General by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,068,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,776,629,000 after acquiring an additional 133,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Dollar General in the fourth quarter worth about $337,150,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Dollar General Trading Down 23.6 %

The company has a market cap of $20.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50-day moving average of $124.01 and a 200 day moving average of $136.88.

About Dollar General

Dollar General Corporation, a discount retailer, provides various merchandise products in the southern, southwestern, midwestern, and eastern United States. It offers consumable products, including paper and cleaning products, such as paper towels, bath tissues, paper dinnerware, trash and storage bags, disinfectants, and laundry products; packaged food comprising cereals, pasta, canned soups, fruits and vegetables, condiments, spices, sugar, and flour; and perishables that include milk, eggs, bread, refrigerated and frozen food, beer, and wine.